Sunshine Girls Sterling-Humphrey, Aiken-George power Thunderbirds into final
ADELAIDE, Australia (CMC) — Jamaican defender Shamera Sterling-Humphrey led an outstanding defensive effort to help propel Adelaide Thunderbirds into the final of the Australian Super Netball Championship with a convincing 68-43 victory over Melbourne Vixens.
Playing on Saturday in the major semi-final — a direct qualifier to the grand final on August 3 — the 28-year-old lit up the Adelaide 36ers Arena in a performance highlighted by 14 intercepts, eight rebounds and six deflections.
In the process, Sterling passed 300 career intercepts as she helped strangled Vixens, goal shooter Sophie Garbin limited to just 15 goals from 19 attempts.
“I woke up so happy, so I knew it was going to be a good one,” Sterling-Humphrey was quoted as saying afterwards.
“I feel like my game is definitely getting better, I just think that I can tidy up on a bit more and I can start finding new strengths.”
While Sterling-Humphrey led the defensive line, fellow Sunshine Girl Romelda Aiken-George took charge offensively, scoring 39 from 44 attempts while goal attack Lauren Frew finished with a perfect 16-from-16.
Thunderbirds raced to a 19-13 victory at the end of the first quarter before dominating the second quarter to be up by 16 at the half, 38-22.
Little changed in the third quarter as Thunderbirds out-scored Vixens 16-10 before also controlling the final quarter 14-11.
Despite the defeat, Vixens will have another bite at the cherry when they take on West Coast Fever who defeated Sunshine Coast Lightning 72-62 in Sunday’s minor semi-final at the RAC Arena in Perth.
Jamaican superstar shooter Jhaniele Fowler was a perfect 67-from-67 as Fever secured their spot in next Saturday’s preliminary finals at John Cain Arena in Melbourne.
Fever actually trailed 16-18 after the first quarter but overturned that deficit to lead 36-35 at the half, Fowler notching her second-straight 16-goal quarter.
Fever pulled away in the third quarter to lead 54-47 at the start of the final stanza, and they remained in control by out-scoring Lightning 18-15 in the final quarter.
